- BGG rating
- 6.6
The Butterfly Garden: Event Cards
- 2–6 players
- 20–40 min
- 2016
- BGG rank
- BGG #8,098
- BGG rating
- 6.6
The Butterfly Garden
2016
Rules assistance for The Butterfly Garden
Plain-language explanations of turns, card effects and disputed situations, with official source references and saved question history.
- 2–6 players
- 20–40 min
- 14+
- Complexity 1.3/5
For 2 players
Rules assistant for The Butterfly Garden
What would you like to know?
Answers come from the official rulebook, with the page to check.
The Butterfly Garden is a board game released in 2016 for 2–6 players, 20–40 minutes per game, and ages 14 and up. It was designed by Steve Finn and its main mechanics are Hand Management, Set Collection, and Auction / Bidding.
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About the game
In The Butterfly Garden, you are an avid butterfly collector and the local butterfly garden needs your help expanding and diversifying its collection. Capture highly desired butterflies, put them in your trusty jar, and deliver them to the garden to gain respect from the collecting community and to help diversify the garden — but watch out for your opponents as lepidopterists can be quite devious! The game is played in a series of rounds. Players start each round by playing a card from their hands to determine the round's turn order. Cards are numbered from 0 to 59, and lower numbered cards will go first. On a turn, a player captures butterflies from the field and adds them to the jar (i.e., they take a card from the row of face-up cards and tuck it under their jar card). When possible, players "deliver butterflies" from their jars to the zoo's butterfly garden to score victory points (VPs). Which butterflies can be delivered is indicated on the face-up "delivery cards" and players are often in a race to deliver butterflies to take the cards and score points. The player with the most VPs at the end of the game wins. During the game, players must carefully decide which butterfly cards to play. By playing lowered numbered cards, players not only get a better pick of butterflies in the field, but they also get first chance at delivering butterflies. However, lower numbered butterfly cards usually have fewer butterflies on them, so players cannot add as many to their jars. Also, butterfly cards with special powers usually have high numbers, so you often must sacrifice turn order in order to use one of these special powers.
Designers
Publishers
- Dr. Finn's Games
Questions and answers
The Butterfly Garden supports 2–6 players according to the catalogue. This range comes from the publisher’s listed player count, so the game can be set up for any group size within it. Some setups, rules and scoring details may still vary by player count, so check your edition’s rulebook for the exact configuration.
The listed playing time for The Butterfly Garden is 20–40 minutes. This is the publisher’s estimate for a full game. The actual duration depends on the group, the player count and familiarity with the rules: first sessions usually run longer, while experienced groups often finish faster. Setup and teaching time are not included in this estimate.
The catalogue lists The Butterfly Garden for ages 14 and up. This is the publisher’s recommendation and reflects reading demands, rule complexity and small components rather than theme alone. Younger players can often join with help from an adult, so check the age guidance on your edition and consider your group’s experience with board games.
The Butterfly Garden has a complexity rating of 1.3 out of 5 from BoardGameGeek players, which makes it a light game. The rating reflects how much rules knowledge, planning and decision-making a typical game demands. Expect a longer first teach for heavier games, and use a preparation guide before game night.
The Butterfly Garden belongs to these categories: Card Game and Animals. Its main mechanics are Hand Management, Set Collection, and Auction / Bidding. Categories describe the theme and setting of a game, while mechanics describe what players actually do on their turns. Each mechanic links to a catalogue hub with similar games, which helps when you want something comparable.
The credited designers of The Butterfly Garden are: Steve Finn. These credits come from the published game data and name the people responsible for the game’s design, not its illustrators or publishers. Designer pages on MeepleRules collect other titles by the same designers, which helps when you enjoy a game and want to find similar ones.
The catalogue lists The Butterfly Garden as a base game. It can be played on its own with the components in the box and does not require any other title. Expansions, if any exist, add new content or rules on top of it and are listed separately in the catalogue with a link back to this base game.